Lucy Olsen discusses Iowa transition on 'Hawkeye Report Podcast' (2024)

Lucy Olsen: Yeah, I was in the car driving and I was just shocked when she told me. I was like, ‘What? That’s crazy.’ But then, it kind of made sense. She’s been doing it for a while. She had a great year to end on. And then when she told me, Jan was on the phone as well, so they said Jan was taking over. And I’m like, ‘Alright. Fine with me.’ I met Jan during the visit. She was awesome. I loved her. They were talking about how pretty much the whole team was going to stay, all the coaching staff was going to stay, so nothing is really changing. Obviously, it would’ve been awesome to get coached by coach Bluder, but coach Jan has been awesome. I really trusted her and what the program had. I loved the team and if they were all staying, it sold it for me anyways.

Lucy Olsen: Yeah, I mean, obviously she’s amazing, greatest player to come through Iowa. She left a legacy. But, I think what I’ve kind of just been going with is I’m not Caitlin Clark, I’m not going to try to be Caitlin Clark. I’m just going to come out here, have fun, play basketball with a new team, see what we can get done. We’re the underdogs again, so let’s make something happen. And the coaches just had so much confidence in me that it helped me I guess get over that little thought of, ‘Oh, do I want to follow in that?’ And she also texted me which was cool and she’s like, ‘They really want to have you here.’ And I feel like just hearing that from someone that did just do all of that was another big step in my thought process.

Lucy Olsen: Yeah, for sure. It is pretty similar. I think Villanova was a little different because we had a lot of great players, but we didn’t really know who was going to step up and I wasn’t going into it like, ‘Oh, I want to try to take over Maddy Siegrist’s scoring role.’ It just kind of happened that way. Here, I feel like I’m a little bit … I’m still a newcomer, so I’m trying to find my spot in it. And I know we have great players here, too, so it’s trying to figure out how we all play together. Both of them, it’s just I want to win. So, whatever it takes to win. I think last year the leadership part of it I had to grow in. I think that’ll help coming to Iowa, because we have five freshmen, some upperclassmen, but I think the leadership part of it I’m going to try to take with me.

Lucy Olsen: I was itching the whole time to get in the gym. I just wanted to shoot, especially after two plane flights. I’m like, ‘I need to go shoot around.’ And I’m not a big shopper either. Once I got here, my mom was like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to decorate your room, go grocery shopping.’ All that. I’m like, ‘I don’t really want to.’ So, finally I had some free time. Finally hit the gym. Taylor (McCabe) showed me around. I still didn’t have my access. Now, I have my access. Now, I can get in whenever I want. I’m loving life.

Lucy Olsen: Yeah, I think because it is a new era. New coach, new players, it brought us all together more. We all want the same thing. We don’t know if it’s going to be the same as last year. It’s going to be different because of all of these new people, but everyone really came together. The energy’s been great at practice. It’s been loud. The freshmen are definitely not shy. They are bringing the energy; they’re bringing the enthusiasm. They’re fun and I think the workouts have been good. I’m exhausted, so I think that’s a good sign that we’re working hard. I don’t know coach Jan as anything but a head coach and I think she’s doing a great job so far.

Lucy Olsen: I was not ready for it, because I’m like, ‘I haven’t even stepped on the court yet. Why are you (asking for a picture)? You don’t even know.’ I don’t know. Hopefully, I’m prepared. I mean, I’m going to enjoy it all. I’m not going to wish none of it happens. It’s my choice. I’m excited for it. I couldn’t be happier to be in this position and playing for such an amazing crowd.

Lucy Olsen: I’m gonna smile. I love to play basketball, so I’m going to have fun with it. Whatever we need, whatever coach needs us to do to win, that’s what I’m going to try to do. If I need to score the ball, I’ll try to score the ball. Play defense, get a little scrappy. That’s the goal. Anything to help us win.

Lucy Olsen: Yeah, that’s funny. I didn’t really have it in high school. I don’t really know where it came from or why I started doing it, but in college I just fell in love with it. I think my size is interesting because I’m long, but I’m not the strongest, so I feel like the midrange I can shoot over people and they can’t really body me. I think that’s why I started to, that’s what I was adapting to. Yeah, I don’t know. I love the midrange, though. It’s so much fun.

Lucy Olsen: Yeah, I think it was more of a bonus of my decision in that Iowa happened to have such a great Swarm business already. Mostly I was looking somewhere that I could just go play basketball for fun, get exposed. The Big Ten Network’s a little different than FloHoops. I want to go play at the next level, so some exposure like that and play with different people. The Swarm was just a bonus on top to give me a little cushion for after college, but that wasn’t a main thing that I was looking for when I was entering the portal.

Lucy Olsen: One, Illinois, because they beat us in the WBIT. I’m a big I don’t like you until I beat you person, so we really shouldn’t have any beef, but now I have beef with Illinois. I’m excited to play UCLA, USC just because I don’t think I’ve really played (West Coast teams). We went out to Oregon last year, but we haven’t played that many teams from the West Coast, or I haven’t played that many teams from the West Coast before. Yeah, I don’t know. I’m excited to play everyone. I’ve only played Penn State, Illinois from the Big Ten. Everyone’s strong, competitive. I’m excited. It’s going to be a game every night.

Lucy Olsen: We were scrimmaging the other day, playing pick-up and we were on the same team which was fun. We got to try that out a little bit and she can shoot the lights out so it’s great to have her on my team. I’m like, ‘Stay on my team the whole time. I’ll find you.’ But, she was knocking down shots. The more we play together, the more we’re going to find each other on the little pocket passes. Yeah, I love it. I’m like, ‘Here, shoot it.’ And then she’ll just make it. I’m like, ‘This is great.’

Lucy Olsen: Villanova was a very five-out, pass and cut offense and Iowa has a lot of similarities with that. The pass and cut. I think that helps a lot. It doesn’t feel like I’m learning from the start again and just a lot of concepts are similar, which is nice. I think coach Jan’s been doing a really good job of explaining why we’re doing the drills we’re doing and how that will help us in games. My brain works like that. If I don’t know why I’m doing it, I get confused and then I’m all out of whack. She’s been doing a really good job of explaining it but then letting us figure it out, which I think is awesome. I don’t know what the practices were like last year, but I like the format of them this year.

Lucy Olsen: Yeah, that was definitely a nice part about Iowa. I love how they run the floor. It’s fun to be able to pass it up to someone, they create and you score within 10 seconds of the shot clock. I love how they were able to just play basketball. It didn’t look like they were setting up a play the whole time. Yeah, that was definitely a big part of my commitment.

Lucy Olsen: Yeah, I think how they’ve explained it so far in what we’ve been doing is it’s a very read and react type of offense. Whoever has the ball kind of chooses what they want to do and then based on what happens there, the next players can read off of it. It’s more of concepts and learning the game of basketball and then just playing out of it so there is a lot of freedom.